Today, I experienced a miracle.
I didn't want to get out of bed; my body and heart were both exhausted and I didn't think I was capable of manifesting the courage I needed to just be. I got up anyway, fixed my coffee, and watched the sun come up over the field behind my apartment. What did I do to deserve such a gift?
Today, I experienced a miracle.
I saw nurses laughing and joking with patients when they have had every reason to lose any semblance of humor. They were beautiful and lovely and clear eyed and I swear, that's what hope looks like: women and men who are able to still smile when they are at the end of their ropes, hanging on with everything they have.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
A friend learned that her father wouldn't be coming from the hospital, and she cried as I hugged her. The bravery it took for her to be vulnerable like that was a powerful thing, an act of great daring.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
I ate a cheeseburger and didn't feel guilty or ugly or ashamed.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
I saw a bird land on the powerline outside my office window, and it was singing despite the rain.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
I talked to my family, who live in another state, with a screen I keep in my pocket -- the screen keeps me connected to my loved ones in a way that wouldn't have been possible even forty years ago. I can't take this for granted.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
I read a book and started another, and marveled at the blessings I don't remember to be grateful for; my literacy is not by accident, and I am lucky to be educated, invited into the realm of learning not in spite of my gender, but because of it. My sisters in other countries are questioning if they will get the same privileges.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
A woman in the car next to mine made eye contact with me and she smiled instead of looking away.
Today, I experienced a miracle.
I had money to buy groceries .
Today. I experienced a miracle.
My husband told me why he loved me and I felt cherished.
Today, I experienced so many miracles.
We think that miracles have to come in grand gestures -- death to life, fire from heaven, water from rocks -- and surely these things are miracles.
But Friend, let me assure you that you are rushing past daily miracles constantly. The little miracles brush against us multiple times a day, if we learn to open our eyes and only look for them.
It is time to pay attention.
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